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I’ve shared a few images from the incredible sunset that took place on February 10th though all of those were of Abbot Hall and the houses surrounding it. From my vantage point atop a large piece of granite at Crocker Park, I was able to turn around and…﻿

As the snowiest and coldest month on record comes to a close, it’s time to take a look back at February. Here are all 19 images (it’s a short month) shared on Wednesdays in Marblehead in the month of February. [KGVID width=”854″…﻿

On Wednesday, February 18, I headed down to Marblehead Harbor to capture images of it frozen over after a near-record 15 days of below freezing temperatures. What struck me most were the intricate textures and designs that had formed in the ice. I’ve…﻿

I haven't posted here in a few weeks as much of that time was spent researching the possibility of producing a coffee table book of my images of Marblehead, MA. With all of the logistics sorted out, I have started a Kickstarter campaign to raise the needed capital for printing a first run of 1,000 books.

I would greatly appreciate your taking a look at my Kickstarter page and pledging your support if you are able.

After a New Year's storm blew through and left us with almost two feet of snow, an arctic air mass was due to envelope Marblehead and with the near zero degree temperatures came the chance of seeing sea smoke. I had only seen sea smoke on a few occasions since moving to Marblehead and have never missed a chance to go out and capture the fleeting phenomenon.

On Saturday morning, I left the house with a few ideas in mind and was thrilled to see the car’s thermometer measuring a truly arctic 2 F outside. I had hoped to see some of the sea smoke inside Marblehead harbor but was disappointed as I crossed the causeway in my view to the left. To the right, I saw incredible amounts of smoke encircling Tinker’s Island but kept driving with other compositions in mind.

After circling Marblehead Neck and not finding the amount of sea smoke I had hoped for at either Castle Rock or Chandler Hovey Park, I came back to the causeway and parked to capture the view of Tinker’s Island and the sea smoke coming off the gentle waves. I started off capturing a great dawn with pink clouds high in the sky. I actually had gone back into the car and put the camera in the bag getting ready to find another spot when I started seeing a brilliant red forming behind Tinker’s Island. I quickly ran back out and switched to my longest zoom lens. As I set up, I started seeing the first light of the rising sun coming up directly behind Tinker’s Island. The shallow angle of the sun was backlighting the sea smoke and making it look as though the ocean was on fire. As I fired off shots hoping to catch the peak of color, the entire sky seemed to catch fire and turned this incredible red. I managed to keep the clouds overhead in the composition and caught their reflected color as well.

I continued to shoot after this and found some more great compositions featuring sea smoke which persisted long after sunrise. When I got home, I hoped the camera was able to capture this perfect moment (the lighting conditions were really challenging) and was thrilled to see this image pop up on my screen.

After over three years and some 840 images of Marblehead shared on this site, I remain in awe at just how much beauty can be found in this town.

Just got back from a 36 hour road trip to NYC with the family. Was able to take very few photos for myself but, when we took them on the Staten Island Ferry, I managed to find a few frames...

This was taken from the back of the ferry (which is really the only place from which you can take a photo without plexiglass in the way). I started off with the classic composition of the island of Manhattan but then this Coast Guard boat came near and then maneuvered across our wake into this great location in the frame.

Toned down our wake a bit and ended up with this view. Seemed like a more poignant view of the modern city.

On Wednesday, February 25th, I met up with a photographer from Maine whose work I greatly admire and showed him around the Town of Marblehead. The sky was a boring (but welcome) bright blue and the tide was low so I decided to walk across Little Harbor…﻿

There’s no question that this Winter has been an incredible and soon an historic one with record amounts of snow and long durations of freezing temperatures. I’ve tried to capture some of the beauty that comes with the cold and snow and, when I first…﻿

Can you believe this image of historic downtown from atop Abbot Hall was taken in early December? I can only imagine the view now with snow as far as the eye can see. I continue to feel very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to capture our…﻿

It's been a while since I posted here so thought I would come back with a bang if you will.

Yesterday was a good day. It began with having the cast taken off my left foot where I had broken a small bone back on December 7. The feeling of having that weight lifted (literally) was tempered as soon as I stepped on the foot and realized I now had a long way to go in getting up to speed with walking. As it happened, I had a physical therapy appointment at the JCC a few hours later that went well. I had also thought to schedule a massage with Monique at Hand in Hand massage and she did a great job restoring some motion to the leg and giving me some great ideas…more on that in the weeks to come.

Before heading to Hand in Hand, I had stopped at home and grabbed the camera hoping to capture the full moon rising. As I drove, I noticed the clouds building and figured my shot at the moon would be lost by the time I got out. As I left for the car at 4pm, I did find the clouds had built up but now wondered if I might catch a nice sunset to make up for missing the moon. I drove directly to the end of the causeway and pulled over only to find the sky beginning to explode in a shower of colors.

I started off shooting into Marblehead harbor where the first colors of last night’s sunset were going strong as the sun finally dipped below the horizon. I then crossed the causeway and began shooting like mad as the sky took on a life of it’s own. I tried a number of compositions and likely will share many more images of last night’s sunset in the weeks to come. This image though was easily my favorite.

I had recomposed to include the lamp posts on the causeway when I saw the lights turning on and had repositioned the tripod so that the ledge of causeway acted as a leading line into the scene. I tried to include as much of the sky as the lens would allow and pressed the shutter at this perfect moment when the traffic had died down and the colors reached their peak. Right after this shot was taken, I took one with my iPhone to share on my Facebook page and then just stopped and stared.

I sometimes get so caught up in the act of trying to get a perfect shot as light conditions rapidly change that I forget to actually enjoy the beauty before me. This time I made it a point of taking a break and enjoying the beauty of last night’s sunset and its perfect timing as I shed the first physical limitations of a broken foot but also as I move forward with some fresh new ideas for this project. Couldn’t have asked for a better Wednesday in Marblehead.

I almost forgot about the full Beaver moon rising this weekend. I only realized it thanks to some timely Facebook posts by others and then quickly began scouting locations from which to capture the rise. The angles the the full moon takes seem to get tougher as we get into the Winter months and I ended up deciding to shoot from the Boston Yacht Club on this particular day. Though the moon was going to be full on Sunday, Nov 17, the conditions that night didn’t seem to allow for a shot so I headed out on Saturday at 3:30pm in hopes of good conditions.

I arrived at the Boston Yacht Club and was disappointed at first that the float was inaccessible. I worried that I wouldn’t be able to get the right angles but then walked to the right and set up near the large crane from where I could line up these three lobster boats moored together in Marblehead harbor with the lighthouse and the expected path of the nearly full Beaver moon. I shot a bit as the sun began to set and then more frequently as the moon made its appearance at the horizon. It took a little while before the Beaver moon was able to clear the haze and shine brilliantly over Marblehead Harbor and to the left of Marblehead lighthouse.

I had nearly everything I could hope for in the scene with the brilliant Beaver moon, Marblehead lighthouse on Chandler Hovey Park and three lobster boats moored together with the waters of Marblehead harbor showing slight ripples and reflecting the great soft light of sunset. There was even a subtle reflection of light coming off the moon to the left of the lobster boats. And then a sailboat came around Marblehead Rock heading into the harbor! I grabbed two shots before the sailboat passed too far to the left and was thrilled to have that small element complete the scene.

If anyone knows who might have been out sailing on Saturday, November 16 at 4pm, let them know I caught them in front of the full Beaver moon.

For those who might have missed the start of this week’s posts, I mentioned going out on the morning of Wednesday, September 11th on what ended up being a 90 degree day. This was in large part thanks to the personalized forecast I received from Matt Noyes over Twitter the night before. On Monday, I shared a shot from dawn and Tuesday featured some early Fall colors at Crocker Park.

I returned to the spot of my earlier dawn shots in anticipation of the sunrise and found that the fog had significantly increased. I still had my medium telephoto lens (the Canon 24-105mm f/4) on the camera and decided to swap it out for the telephoto (Canon 70-200mm f/4). This would allow me to zoom in and increase the perceived size of the rising sun.

As soon as I saw the first signs of this red sun rising, I knew I had made the right choice. I zoomed in as far as I could while keeping Marblehead lighthouse and the sun in frame with a selection of boats moored in Marblehead harbor. The fog did wonders for this scene as did the green light of the lighthouse to counter the red light of the sun.

Having grown up in L.A. in the 80′s and 90′s, we had a weatherman on NBC named Fritz Coleman with the catchphrase ‘Fritz said it would be like this’. I couldn’t help but say to myself ‘Matt said it would be like this’ when this perfect scene unfolded before me.